Ukrainian marine and journalist Roman Borshch brought back to Ukraine after 33 months in Russian captivity

Ukrainian soldier Roman Borshch has been freed from Russian captivity. He is also a former journalist, a member of the Plast National Scout Organisation of Ukraine and a resident of Ternopil in Ukraine's west.

Source: Roman's wife, Oksana Borshch

Details: "After 33 months in enemy captivity, my husband, defender of Mariupol Roman Borshch, has been brought back home to Ukraine," she wrote.

Roman worked in the media and often travelled to the ATO zone as a volunteer and journalist. [ATO or Anti-Terrorist Operation is a term used by the media, the government of Ukraine and the OSCE to identify combat actions in parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts against Russian military forces and pro-Russian separatists in 2014-2018 – ed.].

Roman enlisted in Ukraine's Armed Forces in 2018, joining the marines at the age of 22. After completing a three-year contract, he returned to civilian life.

Borshch worked as a spokesperson for Ukraine's Ministry of Health in 2021.

Roman rejoined the Ukrainian military following the full-scale Russian invasion. He witnessed the start of the invasion in Mariupol alongside his fellow marines. In March 2022, he was captured by Russian forces.

"There are emotions now, I don't fully realise what's happening. We were extremely lucky, considering the places of our detention. First, there was Olenivka [POW camp], where we spent literally a month, then the Donetsk pre-trial detention centre. At first, we were all charged with Article 229.2 – terrorism," Roman Borshch told journalists from the Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne shortly after his arrival in Ukraine on 30 December 2024.

Background: Earlier, Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, Chairman of the Ukrainian Parliamentary Committee on Freedom of Speech, noted that Russia uses people with media experience for its own propaganda. He explained that this is why Russia is reluctant to release Ukrainian journalists.

"Russian television used a [Ukrainian] soldier to depict the supposedly good conditions of detention for prisoners of war. In the story, Borshch speaks about 'excellent' detention conditions, good food, and so on. For the Russian Federation, people like Roman are valued very highly in exchanges. This is because prisoners of war with media experience can most effectively convey the realities of life in Russian prisons [after their release]," Yaroslav Yurchyshyn wrote in an opinion piece for Ukrainska Pravda in November this year.

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